Aviva

Aviva plc /əˈviːvə/ is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 33 million customers[3] across 16 countries.[4] In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general insurer and a leading life and pensions provider.

For other uses, see Aviva (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Aveva.
For the stadium, see Aviva Stadium.

Aviva plc
Public limited company
Traded asLSE: AV.
FTSE 100 Component
ISINGB0002162385 
IndustryFinancial services
PredecessorCGU plc
Norwich Union
Founded2000 (2000)
(by merger)
HeadquartersLondon, England, UK
Key people
ServicesLife insurance
Pensions
General Insurance
Revenue£70,252 million (2019)[1]
£3,933 million (2019)[1]
£2,663 million (2019)[1]
Number of employees
31,700 (2020)[2]
Websitewww.aviva.com

Aviva also has a focus on the markets in Europe and in Asia and, in particular, on the growth markets of China and South East Asia. Aviva is also the second largest general insurer in Canada. Aviva has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Name

The name of the company upon its formation in May 2000 was CGNU plc and was created when Norwich Union merged with insurer CGU.[5] In April 2002, the company's shareholders voted to change the company name to "Aviva plc", an invented palindrome word derived from "viva", the Latin for 'alive' and designed to be short, memorable and work worldwide. The Norwich Union brand, however, was retained for the UK long-term savings and general insurance business.[6]

In April 2008, Aviva announced that it would adopt the "Aviva" name as its worldwide consumer facing brand, and that the Norwich Union brand would be phased out in the United Kingdom.[7]

History

Aviva can trace its history back to the establishment of the Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society in London in 1696.[8][9]

Predecessor company London and Lancashire Fire and Life, pictured in Dublin, c. 1871

It was created by a merger of two British insurance firms, Norwich Union and CGU plc[10] (itself created by the merger of 1998 of Commercial Union and General Accident[11]) as CGNU in February 2000. The Aviva name was adopted in July 2002.[12]

Thereafter, most of the group operations, except for some strong local brands, were carried out under the uniform brand "Aviva".[13] During March 2005, Aviva acquired the RAC plc breakdown recovery operation for around £1.1 billion.[14]

In July 2006, Aviva greatly increased its presence in the United States by acquiring AmerUs Group, a Des Moines based financial services company founded in 1896 in a $2.9 billion (£1.6 billion) deal.[15]

The launch was supported by a £9 million advertising campaign to promote the rebranding (one of the most expensive ever in the insurance field), with the participation of celebrities including Bruce Willis and Alice Cooper.[16] In June 2009, the company decided to dispose of Navigator, its Australian wealth management business, to National Australia Bank for A$825 million (£401 million).[17]

In October 2009, the company decided to focus on its commercial insurance sector and demonstrate its commitment to brokers by launching their 'find a broker' facility, using the British Insurance Brokers Association search engine. To help them with this endeavour, Paul Whitehouse was recruited to play the part of a successful hairdresser running three salons. The message of the campaign focused on business insurance through insurance brokers.[18]

In September 2011, Aviva completed the sale of RAC plc breakdown recovery operation for £1.0 billion to The Carlyle Group.[19] In February 2012, Aviva sold its occupational health business to the British support services company Capita.[20][21]

In July 2012, Aviva announced plans to sell or close 16 non core businesses in order to simplify its activities and boost shareholder returns.[22] As part of the plans Aviva announced the sale of its operations in South Korea and the closure to new business of its bulk buying annuity unit in the United Kingdom.[22] In August 2012, Aviva announced that up to 800 jobs would be lost, following a reorganization caused by further turmoil in the Eurozone.[23]

In December 2012, Aviva agreed to sell Aviva USA Corporation to Athene Holding for US$1.8 billion (£1.1 billion) as part of a plan to improve shareholder returns and reduce the group's capital requirements.[24][25] Athene subsequently sold the life insurance business of Aviva to Global Atlantic.[26]

On 13 April 2015, Aviva completed the £5.6 billion all share takeover of Friends Life Group. Andy Briggs, current group chief executive of Friends Life, became CEO of Aviva UK Life, with Mark Wilson continuing as CEO of the enlarged Aviva Group.[27] In July 2016, Aviva froze withdrawals from the Aviva Investors Property Trust because of a lack of liquidity after Britain's vote to leave the European Union on the 23rd of June.[28][29][30] In September 2017, Aviva agreed to sell its Italian joint venture Avipop Assicurazioni to Banco BPM for US$312.01 million (€265 million).[31]

In March 2018, Aviva, controversially, announced that it "had the ability" to cancel its irredeemable preference shares at par. This caused a wider sell off in the preference share market in the United Kingdom.[32] Also in March 2018 the company announced to spend around £600 million on so called "bolt on" acquisitions, that are in "Poland, Turkey, anywhere we have existing markets".[33]

In October 2018, Mark Wilson agreed to step down as CEO with immediate effect, with Adrian Montague taking interim control of the company, pending Wilson's formal departure in 2019.[34] Maurice Tulloch was appointed CEO in March 2019;[35] however, he stood down in July 2020 for family health reasons and was replaced by Amanda Blanc, who previously served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the company.[36]

Operations
Aviva Canada

Aviva's main activities are the provision of general and life insurance, long term savings products and fund management services. The group has around 29,600 employees and 33 million customers. Aviva Investors has £289.9 billion assets under management.[3]

Principal subsidiaries
  • United Kingdom
    • Aviva Life – Pensions, investments, life insurance and long term savings (formerly Norwich Union)
    • Aviva Insurance – General Insurance (including the Quotemehappy brand)
    • Aviva Investors – Fund Management (formerly Morley)
  • Canada – Aviva Canada
  • China – Aviva-Cofco
  • France – Aviva France
  • Hong Kong
  • India – Aviva India
  • Indonesia - Astra Life
  • Ireland
    • Aviva Direct
    • Aviva Health
  • Italy – Aviva Italia Holding S.p.A.
  • Lithuania
  • Poland – Aviva Polska (TUO, TUŻ, TFI Aviva Investors, PTE BZ WBK-Aviva, Expander)
  • Singapore
  • Turkey – AvivaSA Emeklilik
  • Vietnam

Following the completion of Friends Life Group Limited in April 2015, Friends Provident International Limited is now part of the Aviva Group.[27]

Senior management

CEO Richard Harvey retired on 11 July 2007. His successor was Andrew Moss, the former group finance director.[37] Moss was paid an annual base salary of £925,000 for his role as Chief Executive.[38] Moss resigned on 8 May 2012, after shareholders voted down a proposed senior management pay deal which would have seen Moss increase his basic pay by 5% despite several years of Aviva underperformance.[39]

Following the departure of Aviva's CEO, Andrew Moss, McFarlane assumed the role of executive deputy chairman and became executive chairman on 1 July 2012.[39] On 20 November 2012, Aviva announced that Mark Wilson had been appointed CEO, starting 1 January 2013.[40]

On 12 September 2014, Aviva announced that Sir Adrian Montague would become non executive chairman, on the retirement of John McFarlane at the Aviva AGM in April 2015.[41] On 9 October 2018, the Aviva Board announced Mark Wilson was to step down, remaining as part of the company until April 2019 though on garden leave; with Sir Adrian Montague assuming executive responsibilities in the interim whilst a replacement candidate is sought.[42] Maurice Tulloch was appointed CEO in March 2019;[35] however, he stood down in July 2020 for family health reasons and was replaced by Amanda Blanc, who previously served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the company.[36] Jason Windsor was announced as chief financial officer in September 2019.[43]

George Culmer took over as Chairman from Sir Adrian Montague on 27 May 2020.[44]

Sponsorships

In May 2008, Aviva became Norwich City Football Club's main sponsor. In an advert from 2009 starring Paul Whitehouse, they feature a Plymouth Argyle F.C. fan who uses Aviva car insurance, followed by a Green Army chant.[45] It also acquired the naming rights for the redeveloped Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin, Ireland, and will now be called the Aviva Stadium.[46]

In July 2010, Aviva also took over sponsorship of rugby union's English Premiership from Guinness. The initial four year sponsorship deal saw £20 million invested into club Rugby.[47] In July 2013, Aviva extended its title sponsorship of the Premiership until July 2017.[48]

gollark: I don't know if that's actually possible.
gollark: Just flip the output on and off every millisecond, I'm sure that's doable.
gollark: Great, then you'll be fine.
gollark: Do you really *need* more than a 1kHz square wave?
gollark: You could probably generate *square waves*, at least, without huge problems.

References
  1. "Preliminary Results 2019" (PDF). Aviva. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  2. "Our people". Aviva. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  3. "Strategic Report" (PDF). Aviva. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  4. "Infographic" (PDF). Aviva. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  5. Gary Armstrong; Michael Harker; Philip Kotler; Ross Brennan (2009). Marketing: An Introduction. Pearson Education. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-273-71395-1. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  6. "Changing the name of the game". The Scotsman. 3 May 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  7. Ferreira-Marques, Clara (29 April 2008). "Aviva scraps Norwich Union name". Reuters. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  8. "Aviva Heritage Events Timeline". Aviva plc. Archived from the original on 17 September 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  9. Note: taken over by Commercial Union in 1905
  10. "CGU and Norwich Union merge". BBC News. 21 February 2000.
  11. "About Us > Heritage". Aviva.com. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  12. "Why only Aviva's directors will be 'living well'". London: The Telegraph. 19 March 2002. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  13. "Aviva PLC". Archived from the original on 28 April 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  14. "RAC History". Racnews.co.uk. 31 December 2007. Archived from the original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  15. "Aviva to acquire AmerUs for $2.9 billion". NBCNews.com. 2006. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  16. Cockcroft, Lucy (22 December 2008). "Bruce Willis and Elle Macpherson star in £9 million Norwich Union advert". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  17. NAB buys Aviva to become biggest life insurer Sydney Morning Herald, 22 June 2009
  18. Baker, Rosie (2 October 2009). "Aviva launches first ad aimed at business". Marketing Week. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  19. "Aviva completes the sale of RAC". aviva.com. 30 September 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  20. "Capita announces purchase of Aviva UK Health". Reed Business Information. 29 February 2012. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  21. "Capita to acquire Aviva's occupational health business". Capita PLC. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  22. "Insurer Aviva to cut 16 underperforming businesses". BBC News. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  23. "August 24, 2012 – Aviva to Cut Up to 800 Jobs as McFarlane Reshapes Insurer". Bloomberg.
  24. Neligan, Myles (21 December 2012). "Insurer Aviva sells U.S. unit for $1.8 billion". Reuters. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  25. "Aviva sells US business for £1.1bn". London: The Telegraph. 21 December 2012. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  26. "Aviva USA life insurance unit to be dealt to Global Atlantic". The Des Moines Register. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  27. "Aviva and Friends Life rise in first day as a merged company". The Telegraph. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  28. Jones, Sarah. "Second Property Fund Suspends Trades Over Brexit Fears". Bloomberg. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  29. Treanor, Jill (5 July 2016). "Commercial property fund freeze – all you need to know". Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  30. "Challenger bank shares slump as Aviva freezes fund". FT. 5 July 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  31. "Aviva sells Italian JV to Banco BPM for 265 million euros". Reuters. 29 September 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  32. Robert, Norman (13 March 2018). "Aviva makes waves". Reuters. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  33. Lucas, Paul (8 March 2018). "Aviva reveals acquisition plans". Insurance Business UK. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  34. "Aviva CEO Mark Wilson to depart in 2019". Investment week. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  35. "Maurice Tulloch wins race to be Aviva CEO". Insurance Age. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  36. "Aviva appoints Amanda Blanc as Chief Executive Officer". FT.com. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  37. "Mon Compte Aviva Assurance en ligne".
  38. "Directors' remuneration report". Annual report and accounts 2008. Aviva. Archived from the original on 25 December 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  39. Treanor, Jill; Kollewe, Julia (8 May 2012). "Aviva chief executive steps down after shareholder revolt – with £1.75m payoff". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  40. Kollewe, Julia (20 November 2012). "Aviva appoints Mark Wilson chief executive – but no 'golden hello". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  41. "3i changes chairman after Montague joins Aviva". FT.com. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  42. "Mark Wilson steps down as Chief Executive Officer of Aviva plc". Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  43. "Jason Windsor is appointed as chief financial officer of Aviva". Scottish Financial News. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  44. "George Culmer becomes Aviva chairman". Insurance Age. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  45. EU Football Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  46. New Lansdowne Road to be called the Aviva Stadium Belfast Telegraph, 12 February 2009
  47. "Aviva Premiership Table". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  48. "Aviva and Premiership Rugby extend partnership until 2017". Rugby247. 27 May 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
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